October 29, 2010 collection

[furtwaengler]

This is the last recording I've done, nearly a month ago (...I mean, is it November already? the 20th!?). It took place at night in a pitch dark practice room (Just didn't turn on the light), after an old teacher's recital. A Yamaha upright that I like because of it's warm sustain (It can be heard in an old one I've posted in the past, "Meditation."). The recording level was accidentally too high, but it doesn't bother me.

I've pulled this little one minute "Tag" out of sequence, and everything else is in the order it occurred, and it fits nicely this way as a little program of pieces, five in all. I'd encourage listening to them in this sequential order. It's a happy surprise how this worked out with the key relationships. (These were not originally side by side.)

[furtwaengler]

Here are the remaining two, as the limits dictate.

I might mention if you're used to my normal manner of exploration, all of these are for the most part more traditionally tonal and tamer than a lot of my others, though "Melting" is pretty square on the line of my chromatic leanings, and "Beyond the noise" gets a bit wild. I'd say I was in a mood to sit back and relax, or calm my nerves.

Dave

[emill]

Hi Dave !

Listened to the 5 pieces and liked most the energy in the middle of "Melting".  I must also say the pieces surely reflected your mood that night and in a darkened room as in -  "Beyond the Noise" and "In the Olden days". 

I did a "crazy" thing and listened to the 1st 3 pieces in sequential order but playing the 2nd and 3rd pieces at 30 seconds and 1 minute interval in relation to the 1st piece and .... wow it felt like a new piece with more nuances and colors...a surprising effect at how well they blended and complimented each other.  They seemed to fit very well as you observed.  Sorry .... just one of my moods tinkering with music done by others. 
merry x'mas! 

[ted]

Tag is an effective prelude - suitably brief, and somewhat more optimistic in spirit than what follows. But this may be part of the plan.

Is There Anything Left is a work of sombre portent, with the major conclusion serving, by way of contrast, to intensify the bleakness of the  vision leading up to it.

Melting builds the same atmosphere of abstract and unrelenting menace through chromatic means instead of tonal chords. The lighter, Mazeppa-like ascent and descent at 3:40 is a nice touch.

In the Olden Days is an uncompromising lament which has no relation to nostalgia. There are several very attractive changes, particularly in the sections 3:00 to 3:15 and 2:00 to 2:15. This is yet another example which shows that we do not need to play thousands of notes and complicated chords at ninety miles an hour to improvise effectively.

Beyond the Noise, with its insistent, almost Glass-like alternation under a current of bustle, lends itself to many associations. A cityscape observed from a high window came to mind. There is a striking moment at 4:30 where the perceived metre changes. I would have rather liked this particular trick to continue.

As a whole, the set is an excellent embedding of spontaneity within a well-planned, but sufficiently loose, general form and programme. The precise nature of the programme and its imagery, beyond the general indications given, I suggest is best left to the listener, who will experience little shortage of ideas. As I have implied, I hear influences ranging from Liszt through Scriabin to Glass, with a persistent recalling, for a less obvious reason, of MacDowell. But perhaps the game of spotting similarities is a peccadillo I would do well to phase out. After all, any influence short of caricature is fair game in music, especially in improvisation.

The final conception of this powerful little suite is obviously yours and yours alone, and that is what matters in the end.